In a mixture of great skill and good timing, nature photographer Mike Johnson of Rancho Penasquitos captured images Sunday of a large adult humpback whale breaching in front of a whale watching boat nine miles west of Point Loma.

Johnson took the images about 3 p.m., shortly before the boat Ranger 85 was scheduled to return to H&M Landing in San Diego. Boats out of H&M have been seeing a lot of blue whales and finbacks in recent days.

"I wasn't surprised. These animals can come entirely out of the water," said Johnson, who has photographed a wide cross section of marine animals, ranging from blue whales to mola.

Johnson wasn't sure how long the whale was. But it's well-established that humpbacks can grow up to 52 feet in length and weigh almost 80,000 pounds. Many humpbacks migrate as much as 16,000 miles per year.

Johnson said in an email, "While it's normal for humpbacks to seasonally visit the northern Channel Islands, sightings this far south are unusual. Perhaps due to episodic ocean conditions, they have been seen more frequently in Southern California waters for the past two years. Even when the whale's food source is not visible on the surface, physical evidence confirms that the whales are feeding in the area.

Tour operators departing from Mission Bay have also been regularly encountering great whales and a variety of dolphin species.

"In the eighteen years I've been actively photographing whales, the opportunities in the past year have been unsurpassed," Johnson said.